The Most Valuable Progressives

Let down by a dangerous Republican White House, a compromising Democratic Congress and a distracting and dysfunctional mainstream media, progressives persevered in 2007, laying the groundwork for what we can only hope will be the different and better politics of 2008. The list of heroes and champions is endless, but here are some of the MVPs -- Most Valuable Progressives -- from the activist, political, media and cultural spheres of the last full year before the last full year of the Bush-Cheney interregnum:

* Most Valuable Teaching Moment: When fundamentalist Republicans made a stink about the fact that newly-elected Minnesota Congressman KEITH ELLISON, the first Muslim elected to the House, would not be swearing his oath on their version of the scriptures, Ellison trumped them with history. He placed his hand on an edition of the Koran that had been donated to the Library of Congress by a student of Islam and all the world's great religions: Thomas Jefferson.

* Most Valuable Activist Group: At a time when Congress and the White House seem to have agreed that there will always be more than enough money for defense spending, the terrific Caucus4Priorities campaign of IOWANS FOR SENSIBLE PRIORITIES has kept alive the concept of a peace dividend. The group -- a grassroots project of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, the national group founded in 1998 by BEN COHEN of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, has used creative tactics and old-fashioned people power to make an issue of wasteful Pentagon spending. In doing so, they've succeeded where the media has failed in forcing presidential candidates to discuss budgeting in deeper and smarter terms. "We aim to redirect 15% of the Pentagon's discretionary budget away from obsolete Cold War weapons towards education, healthcare, job training, alternative energy development, world hunger, deficit reduction," the organizers explain. "This 15% cut, or $60 billion dollars, on obsolete weapons systems and the further proliferation of nuclear weapons does not include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in no way impacts homeland security or our defense. We have the money; let's spend it on sensible priorities!"

* Most Valuable Activist: TIM CARPENTER of PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA did not just argue that progressives should stay and fight within a Democratic party that seemed to let them down at every turn in 2007. He showed them how to do it by leading PDA's aggressive and unblinking campaigns for rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, impeachment of Bush and Cheney, a single-payer national health care plan, media reform and a real response to climate change. PDA won the confidence of Congressional Progressive Caucus members, with House lefties such as Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters and Raul Grijalva joining its board. Much of the credit goes to the tireless, humble yet unyielding Carpenter.

* Most Valuable Think Tank: LIBERTY TREE: Foundation for the Democratic Revolution is staffed by young, smart thinkers with roots in green and student politics who push the limits of the debate about how to repair elections, reform education and renew the spirit of 1776. Fellows such as BEN MANSKI and KAITLIN SOPOCI-BELKNAP go beyond narrow interpretations of both the Constitution and what is possible in a republic to explore what real democracy would look like at the international, national, state, regional and local levels. Read their great journal and visit them at: www.libertytreefdr.org

* Most Valuable Crusade: When no one else seemed to be getting serious about challenging the Bush-Cheney administration's taste for torture, THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT movement developed an orange campaign – appropriating the color of the jump suits worn by detainees – to highlight popular opposition to violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. As the torture issue came front and center, DEBRA SWEET and other World Can't Wait activists – most of them veterans of the pre-war Not In Our Name movement -- were already there with a smart, uncompromising challenge to untenable practices and an untenable status quo.

* Most Valuable Internet Site: When people ask about how and where to follow what is happening with the movements to end the war in Iraq, to prevent a war with Iran and to hold to account those who launched one mad war and now seek to initiate another, the answer is always www.AFTERDOWNINGSTREET.org site. Constantly updated by the indefatigable DAVID SWANSON, the site is fresh -- there were even six posts on Christmas Day -- and it features local actions (via YouTube) as well as national interventions. Because it is so thorough and so engaged with local and regional protests and events, the AfterDowningStreet site provides the best illustration of the extent to which mainstream media has neglected the most vital movements of the moment.

* Most Valuable Congressman: ROBERT WEXLER, D-Florida, was appropriately savage in his Judiciary Committee questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Wexler almost single-handedly restored the separation of powers. Then, after Ohio Congressman DENNIS KUCINICH forced House consideration of his proposal to impeach Vice President Cheney, the Florida congressman grabbed the issue and organized a push by key members of the Judiciary Committee to open hearings on the veep's high crimes and misdemeanors. If he keeps this up in 2008, Wexler could yet force the House to be what the founders intended: a check and balance on executive lawlessness.

* Most Valuable Senator: Vermont Independent BERNIE SANDERS boldly battled the Bush administration on the international stage by traveling to Costa Rica before that country's fall referendum vote on whether to accept the Central American Free Trade Agreement. As the Bush administration was making all sorts of threats in order to scare Costa Ricans into capitulating to a neo-liberal agenda that serves Wall Street rather than workers in the U.S. or Latin America, Sanders arrived with the news that the U.S. government includes more than just a White House, and that the Constitution permits not just the president but the Congress to have a say regarding trade policies. Sanders put the White House on notice that its lies and bully tactics would no longer go unchallenged; hopefully, others in the House and Senate will join him in reasserting the strong legislative stance that is essential to transparent and democratic policy making with regard to a troubled economy.

*Most Valuable Commissioner: MICHAEL COPPS may have been on the losing end of the FCC's December vote on whether to knock down barriers to media monopoly in cities across the country. But the dissident commissioner's brilliant detailing of the threats posed to minority ownership, cultural diversity, local news gathering and journalism laid the groundwork for legislative and legal challenges that will upset the 3-2 decision that saw Copps and Commissioner JONATHAN ADELSTEIN stand up to Rupert Murdoch and the Bush White House. Said Copps in his blistering dissent: "Today's decision would make George Orwell proud. We claim to be giving the news industry a shot in the arm--but the real effect is to reduce total newsgathering. We shed crocodile tears for the financial plight of newspapers--yet the truth is that newspaper profits are about double the S&P 500 average. We pat ourselves on the back for holding six field hearings across the United States--yet today's decision turns a deaf ear to the thousands of Americans who waited in long lines for an open mike to testify before us. We say we have closed loopholes--yet we have introduced new ones. We say we are guided by public comment--yet the majority's decision is overwhelmingly opposed by the public as demonstrated in our record and in public opinion surveys. We claim the mantle of scientific research--even as the experts say we've asked the wrong questions, used the wrong data, and reached the wrong conclusions."

* Most Valuable National Radio: RACHEL MADDOW has survived the changes at Air America and thrived. Why? Because she's smart enough to be serious when called for and hilarious when necessary. She's also got a spot-on sense of what it means to be a progressive in an era when the Democratic party often fails to uphold progressive values. She's anti-Bush, and even more scathingly anti-Cheney, but she does not skimp when it comes to holding Democrats to account. Added bonus: Maddow's got a taste for cultural stories that makes her early evening show far broader in scope than most talk radio.

* Most Valuable Local Radio: ARNIE ARNESEN is the New Hampshire radio host all the candidates want to talk to: sort of. Everyone knows Arnesen is smart and fair -- she's a lefty with a libertarian streak who once was the Democratic nominee for governor but who minces no words about the two parties. She's got equally smart and fair listeners. The "trouble" is that Arnesen pulls no punches. She expects her guests to scrap the soundbites and answer questions in full sentences with full ideas. It makes for great radio; indeed, listening to politicos struggle to keep up with her is part of what makes covering the New Hampshire primaries fun. When is some radio network going to be smart enough to take Arnie national?

* Most Valuable Television: MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann is essential viewing that provides a nightly dose of reality to a nation still kept in the dark by most media. But broadcast television remains the vast wasteland that does the most to deaden our discourse, and that is why BILL MOYERS JOURNAL remained the essential antidote to what ails the body politic. Interviews with JEREMY SCAHILL, MARTIN ESPADA, SCOTT RITTER, BARBARA EHRENREICH , LORI WALLACH AND JON STEWART – along with Olbermann and Stephen Colbert, a savior of cable – were among the highlights of 2007. He also devoted an hour to an impeachment discussion featuring Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein and this reporter, a commitment that other broadcast or cable program have yet to make.

* Most Valuable Political Book: NAOMI WOLF's THE END OF AMERICA: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green). When Wolf started writing about the drift of the United States toward fascism, she was dismissed by some as another casual commentator blowing off some anti-Bush steam. But her detailing of the parallels between steps taken by the current administration and moves made by the 20th century's most notorious dictators to transform democracies into authoritarian states is convincing as it is chilling. And Wolf is not just complaining; she's the "face" of the American Freedom Campaign's important drive to identify and confront assaults on basic liberties and the system of checks and balances.

* Most Valuable Political Album: "KALA" by M.I.A. The Sri Lankan singer -- daughter of a prominent Tamil militant -- speaks truth when she declares: "I put people on the map that never seen a map." This is way beyond world beat. Maya Arulpragasam stirs up a global gumbo of ragga, ganna, soca, dancehall, electro, punk, Bollywood and hip-hop, mixes in heaping helpings of attitude and insight and serves it raw. If there is such a thing as refugee rock, this is it – like the best of Rachid Taha and Tinariwen, only edgier and with a scorching case of "Bird Flu."

* Most Valuable Political Song: "GOD BLESS AMERICA" by JAMES McMURTRY. Written on the cusp of 2006/2007 and circulated on the internet (www.jamesmcmurtry.com) over the past year, no song caught the zeitgeist better than this one – except perhaps McMurtry's previous take on oil wars and the fundamentalisms of Bible-thumping Christians and Weekly Standard-thumping neo-cons. Every McMurtry song has a million-dollar stanzy; in this one it's: "You keep talking that shit like I never heard/ Hush, little President, don't say a word/ When the rapture comes and the angels sing/ God's gonna buy you a diamond ring…" Watch for McMurtry's upcoming album with "God Bless America." It'll be a great send-off for the little President who couldn't.

Comments (29)

1. Most Valuable Pundit/Columnist: John Nichols

   Posted by AMDIGIA at 12/31/2007 @ 1:26pm

2. Obama is the Most Value Progressive, as he has the unique ability to communicate the progressive agenda in a manner that appeals to the broadest segment of the electorate. Pursuing progressive trans-partisanship is what Obama is all about and this gets misinterpreted by Krugman and others as bi-partisan dilution and compromise. Again, here is Obama in his own words "prior to" the campaign:

   I do think a broader question remains on the table. What is the best strategy for building majority support for a progressive agenda, and for reversing the rightward drift of this country?

   One important part of that strategy - and on this I think we agree - is for progressives within the Democratic Party to describe our core values (e.g. racial justice, civil liberties, opportunity for the many, and not just the few) in clear, unambiguous terms.

   A second part of that strategy - and again, I think we agree here - is to stake out clear positions on issues that put those values into action (e.g. the need for universal health care), and to stand up for those values when they are under assault (e.g. opposition to the Patriot Act).

   But the third part of this part of the equation – and on this we may disagree – must be to gain converts to our positions. My job, as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, isn't to scold people for their lack of ideological purity. It's to persuade as many people as I can, across the ideological spectrum, that my vision of the future is compatible with their values, and can make their lives a little bit better. Thus, while I may favor common-sense gun control laws, that doesn't keep me from reaching out to NRA members who are worried about their lack of health insurance. I favor affirmative action, but I'm still going after the votes of white union members who oppose affirmative action, because I think I can convince them that it's Bush's economic agenda, and not affirmative action, that is eroding their job security and stagnating their wages. And while I may object to the misogyny and materialism of much of rap culture, I'm still going to spend the time reaching out to a hip-hop generation in search of a future.

   In other words, I believe that politics in any democracy is a game of addition, not subtraction. And I believe deeply enough in the decency of the American people to think that progressives can build a winning majority in this country, so long as we're not afraid to speak the truth, and so long as we don't write off big chunks of the electorate just because they don't agree with us on every issue.

   All of which explains why I'm not likely to launch blanket denunciations of the DLC or any other faction within the Democratic Party. I intend to engage DLC members, just like I intend to engage everybody else that I can during the next year of campaigning, in a conversation about the direction our country needs to take to give ordinary working families a fair shake. In some instances, I may even agree with DLC positions: their insistence on the value of national service, or the need to harden domestic targets like chemical plants from potential terrorist attack, to cite a few examples I just pulled from the DLC web-site, make sense to me. Where I disagree with them – and, as we have already discussed, I disagree with them strongly on a lot of major issues - I intend to let them know, firmly and without equivocation, just why I think they are wrong.

   To some, this approach may appear naïve; to others, it may appear that I'm headed down a path of dangerous compromise. All I can tell you is that in my twenty years as an organizer, civil rights lawyer, and state senator, I've always trusted my moral compass, and have thus far avoided compromising my core values for the sake of ambition or expedience.

   http://www.blackcommentator.com/48/48_cover.html

   Posted by Metteyya at 12/31/2007 @ 1:26pm

3. Best stab The Nation has taken yet at citing good examples of people standing up for progressive values. We need more articles focusing on the positive, particularly outside of electoral politics. I think this is a great step in the right direction.

   Posted by srjenkins at 12/31/2007 @ 2:46pm

4. And as with PETER ROTHBERG's version...

   do ANY of these "winners" have any ACCOMPLISHMENTS to show? Changes in public policy, programs enacted, candidates elected, wars stopped???

   Posted by Mask at 12/31/2007 @ 4:38pm

5. Posted by METTEYYA 12/31/2007 @ 1:26pm

   Geez, METTE, even RESE has more variety than you in Cut & Pastes!

   heheh

   Posted by Mask at 12/31/2007 @ 4:39pm

6. Sorry (almost) to pour cold water.......but, in the absence of MASK, I'll stand in :)

   Looks like a whole lot of `Singing to the Choir' without a single solid, indisputable achievement.

   I still say Gen. Petraeus.....a man who made a real difference and has saved lives, this year and IMHO, for decades to come. I don't give a shit about any other measuring stick, one can't be anymore `Progressive' than actually saving lives.....Talk and punditry is cheap, actually beyond cheap, it's FREE!

   Posted by Happy at 12/31/2007 @ 4:40pm

7. Damn, MASK, didn't see you coming back.....should have looked toward your cubicle!

   Posted by Happy at 12/31/2007 @ 4:40pm

8. What did Jesus, the so called "Son of God" accomplish in his life time? How about the earliest abolitionists? What about all those "nutty" environmentalists that tried to warn of what was coming so many years ago? Movements take time to develope.

   Posted by mtspence05 at 12/31/2007 @ 5:12pm

9. Posted by HAPPY 12/31/2007 @ 4:40pm

   HAPP, Limbergh is coming, and I think he stole your stapler!

   Posted by Mask at 12/31/2007 @ 5:26pm

10. Movements take time to develope.----Posted by MTSPENCE05 12/31/2007 @ 5:12pm

    True, in fact, Empty could do a dime in the joint and the Dems would still not nominate a candidate he'd support!

    Posted by Mask at 12/31/2007 @ 5:30pm

11. True, in fact, Empty could do a dime in the joint and the Dems would still not nominate a candidate he'd support!

    Posted by MARY

    Yeah, yeah, yeah--everybody knows I did time. So what? Are you capable of nothing more than going after the messenger and not the message?

    Posted by mtspence05 at 12/31/2007 @ 5:37pm

12. Posted by MTSPENCE05 12/31/2007 @ 5:37pm

    No, my point is...you could STILL be in prison...and the movement YOU want won't be "develope'ing", since no candidate for the Dems is acceptable to you and your "all or nothing" self-centeredness.

    So...2008...2012 maybe...you don't vote, so it doesn't matter if you're sitting in your apartment in Ft. Worth or in a 5X12 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Beaumont come November 4th, does it?

    Posted by Mask at 12/31/2007 @ 5:50pm

13. "all or nothing" self-centeredness.

    Demanding a geniune choice between the two parties we have to choose from is being selfish? Leaving millions without representation is irrational? Refusing to accept the corporate sponsored view of the world is uncompromising?

    Posted by mtspence05 at 12/31/2007 @ 5:55pm

14. And how long did it take for Rome to adopt Christianity? for the Republican party to embrace abolition? How long has it taken for our politicians to accept the fact that human activity is having an adverse effect on the environment?

    Posted by mtspence05 at 12/31/2007 @ 6:17pm

15. "What did Jesus, the so called "Son of God" accomplish in his life time?

    Posted by MTSPENCE05 12/31/2007 @ 5:12pm

    Through his life and death, he gave us salvation and grace.

    Posted by ACook at 12/31/2007 @ 7:24pm

16. hey, mr. nick,

    is this the bird flu song? [youtube.com]

    Posted by frosty zoom at 12/31/2007 @ 7:26pm

17. Posted by MTSPENCE05 12/31/2007 @ 6:17pm

    280 years for Rome to legalize Christianity....the Republican Party was created as part of an abolition movement.....20 years on global warming.

    So..."immediately"..."20 years"...or "280 years".

    Pretty wide range there, Empty....heheh

    Posted by Mask at 12/31/2007 @ 7:52pm

18. lovely, mr. nichols. full of light and hope. what a beautiful way to start the new year. peace.

    and thank you.

    Posted by loveloki at 12/31/2007 @ 8:58pm

19. It has to be Al Gore because of the Nobel Prize recognition. Although environmentalism does not completely overlap with progressive ideas, his voice (in the name of so many Americans and citizens of the world) has been acknowledged by the international community to be leader of a cause. And he is progressive as well.

    Olbermann does a fine job keeping a liberal voice within mainstram media and Senator Russ Feingold has had very principled stands on several issues.

    Posted by Frank42 at 12/31/2007 @ 11:04pm

20. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZhappy new year...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    Posted by davebarlett at 01/01/2008 @ 12:52am

21. Where is our good Senator Russ Feingold in this grand mix of progressive heroes for the year? Honestly, the man should be given the Democratic nomination on the basis of his defence of individual liberty and the core of the constitution alone. How the Nation could forget his stalwart work is, well, I was about to say surprising, but they to tend to forget peons like working Senators and assorted whatnot.

    Posted by kgrant at 01/01/2008 @ 02:17am

22. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZhappy new year...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    Posted by DAVEBARLETT 01/01/2008 @ 12:52am

    looks like things are new year's rockin' down at davie's crib.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2008 @ 03:54am

23. Thank you John Nichols for recognizing the valuable and never-ending work of Progressive Democrat of America's National Director, Tim Carpenter. If all the truly progressive people in the country would unify behind Tim Carpenter and the PDA vision, we would become a powerful force that could turn the Democratic Party into one that truly stands up and implements a viable and effective progressive platform within the Party, one that puts people and real democracy before the special interests.

    PDA's inside/outside work to transform the Democratic Party is the real-deal, a pragmatic and practical way bring progressive values to be where they should be--the central and moral core of the Democratic Party.

    Am I biased? Yes. Not only because I have the good fortune to know and work with and for PDA here in Ohio, but also because I know that only by unifying progressives around a viable strategy are we going to get a party that we can all be proud.

    I encourage all of you in the movement for real change, and those of you wanting to get in the movement, to take a look at Progressive Democrats of America, a group that has remained unwavering in its progressive stance. Tim Carpenter's leadership in bridging divides and bringing together those in and out of the Party is unparalleled in the nation.

    No matter what your group affiliation, think about helping expand PDA's congressional strategy by joining a chapter in your district, and if there is not one, starting a chapter. PDA's plan is one all progressives should unite around if we are going refashion the Party into being one we can proudly say we belong to. See: www.pdamerica.org to build the movement.

    Posted by MichaelPDA at 01/01/2008 @ 11:32am

24. Posted by MICHAELPDA 01/01/2008 @ 11:32am |

    Okay, maybe it's him....so I'll ask ...again-

    What public policy has Tim Carpenter gotten enacted?

    Posted by Mask at 01/01/2008 @ 12:30pm

25. What public policy has Tim Carpenter gotten enacted?

    Posted by MASK 01/01/2008 @ 12:30pm

    what public policy has anybody besides k-street gotten enacted?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2008 @ 2:31pm

26. Mr. Nichols,

    FREEDOM'S POWER, by Paul Starr would be a Most Valuable Coaching Tool for any Most Valuable Progressive.

    Posted by Leitricaugh at 01/01/2008 @ 2:33pm

27. what public policy has anybody besides k-street gotten enacted?-----Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/01/2008 @ 2:31pm

    So it's an "E" for "effort" kind of award? Not actually "Pass/Fail"?

    Posted by Mask at 01/01/2008 @ 3:39pm

28. Hey Frosty Zoom, When you tell us what you have done for the movement, then we can talk.

    Posted by wswalcott at 01/01/2008 @ 5:56pm

29. Congratulations to this terrific list of progressives.

    All movements do take time to develop as MTSpence05 said and each of the MVP's listed are part of this greater movement building.

    Forward motion ("progress") is made with each and every step. In fact, raising awareness, educating, and mobilizing the public about issues is an accomplishment in itself.

    PDA's Tim Carpenter being named "Most Valuable Activist" is particularly deserved. Because of his tireless work, leadership, vision, guidance, and example, an entire "army" of PDA activists are accomplishing things every day.

    Members of Progressive Democrats of America www.pdamerica.org work together nationally on Issue Teams (Out of Iraq, Single Payer HC, Economic Justice, Stop Global Warming, Clean & Transparent Elections), have gotten countless resolutions passed on each of these issues at local levels, sponsored public events, increased the number of U.S. Representative co-sponsors on HR 676 Single Payer HC bill, HR 333 Impeachment bill, HR 508 Out of Iraq, increased Reps on the CPC's letter committing to vote no for Iraq funding unless it is for withdrawal, and much, much more.

    PDA members have worked to get progressive candidates elected, run for office themselves, formed progressive state caucuses, and pushed progressive agendas within local and state party platforms. We coalition with other groups on issues because together, our progressive voice is louder and "we the people" are heard.

    PDA Congressional District Point People lobby their representatives and make a difference in their votes, influenced them to co-sponsor progressive legislation, and have been a voice of the people in what is supposed to be a representative government.

    PDA's grassroots activists, working inside and outside the party are making strides to change the Democratic party and change the country, restoring true democracy, one action at a time.

    Congratulations to Tim Carpenter, and all of the other MVP's, for their roles in building the progressive movement in this country.

    Posted by MaryPDAOhio at 01/02/2008 @ 03:20am